A Budget Hotel that feels like 5-Star!

We chose Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as our honeymoon destination primarily for the FOOD! But before I blog about that let me tell you first about this wonderful board and lodging discovery we found in downtown KL.

After the wedding, we obviously had to work with a tighter budget for our honeymoon. It’s good that Joseph and I are basically no-frills travelers so this new boutique hotel fit our budget perfectly without causing us some hassle and stress.

I was desperately looking for budget hotels on the internet when I found a goldmine. TUNE HOTEL, located at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, in downtown KL, is operated by Tune Air Sdn. Bhd. founded by Tony Fernandes, the same founder of the AirAsia, the low cost airline in Malaysia. We flew AirAsia going to KL so booking in Tune Hotel just fit perfectly.

Guess how much we paid for a 3 Nights/4 days stay? …(drumroll)… only a little less than 3,000 Philippine Pesos. Yes, no kidding. At first I thought hey this might be a motel type of place (You know like those flower group of low-cost hotels you can find along Pasig?) but seriously this was a LEGIT & CLEAN hotel.

Okay here’s the concept behind such low-priced accommodations. First of all, bear in mind that this is a BUDGET Concept Hotel. Forgive me for saying this, but you know Malaysians have a "better" definition of the word “budget” than Filipinos. Tayo kasing mga Pinoy pag sinabi mong agad na budget alam mo agad na super tinipid ka talaga.

In this case, for PhP3000 it even beats staying in a so-called 3-star hotel here in the Philippines. Let’s admit it when you’re traveling in a foreign country, you’re out touring most of the time anyway, right? (Unless you’re like a hotel hermit like Woody Allen or something) Anyway… staying in Tune Hotel is CHEAP yet COMFORTABLE because they have taken out the stuff that you don’t REALLY get to use anyway but end up paying for it in bigger hotels such as Cable TV, Room service, Telephone, Mini-Bar, etc… What you really need from a reliable hotel is a GOOD SHOWER, a GREAT BED, NICE AIRCONDITIONING, and PROPER SECURITY. You may not have the other extras inside the room BUT you have all of these 4 important factors in 5-STAR CLASS. Since the hotel is in downtown KL, it’s so near the KL tourist spots like the Petronas Tower and Menara. It’s even a stone’s throw away from the monorail. Around the area, we even found some great off-the-beaten track places to eat.

I’m obviously raving about this place because it really deserves it. It was such a blessing to find it in the Internet. I really recommend this cheap yet chic hotel. Check out the interiors. Not bad at all. In fact they were so hip and funky. With such a concept I thought that only young travelers would be able to enjoy it but guess what, I found a couple of senior citizens staying there too. So it’s really for everybody.

Another good thing that I liked about it is the hotel’s concern for energy conservation. To cut down on energy costs, guests can only pay for the amount of air conditioning used. They style is prepaid. So for our stay we paid for a 12-hour use of air conditioning. That cost was already included in the 3k bill. So imagine how cheaper it would have been if we didn’t get some AC. But you know what since we were out most of the time, the prepaid 12-hour AC lasted us for the whole stay.

Joseph and I really recommend this hotel. It was a small room but the bed made us feel like we were honeymooning in Shangri-La. I swear! =)